Ronald Sarno, 71, of Ridgewood dies; priest, teacher, lawyer, author

A Ridgewood man who started his work life as a priest and later became a lawyer and author died Friday from injuries sustained when he was hit by a car Tuesday night.

Ronald Sarno, 71, a partner in Sarno & De Felice in New York City, died at Hackensack University Medical Center. He was hit by a car while walking home from the train on North Walnut Street near downtown Ridgewood, less than a block from his home.

Village police were not releasing any information about the incident Saturday, but said on Wednesday that no summons had been issued.

Raised in Jersey City, Sarno became a priest and taught high school after graduating from Boston College and Union Theological Seminary in the late 1960s. He left the priesthood in 1975 and was an administrator at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson and Memorial Sloane-Kettering Hospital in New York City before getting a law degree from Fordham University.

After working as an associate with law firms in Fair Lawn and New York City, he established Sarno & De Felice, as well as a firm he ran out of his home on weekends. He specialized in medical malpractice cases.

In his spare time, he was an avid reader who loved to write and authored eight books, mostly textbooks on legal and religious subjects, according to his wife, Una McGinley Sarno. At the time of his death, he was working on an adult adaptation of a children’s book that his wife wrote about teaching writing to young people.

Sarno lived for 25 years in Ridgewood and is survived by his wife of 38 years and a daughter, Niamh Sarno.

Visitation is today from 2 pm to 4 pm and 7 pm to 9 pm at Feeney Funeral Home in Ridgewood. A funeral service is scheduled tomorrow at 9:30 am Mount Carmel Church in Ridgewood.